For one who has served the sport as player, umpire and Tamil Nadu coach for nearly three decades, the assignment as coach of the Indian junior badminton team to Germany and the Netherlands recently, provided the 47-year-old T. Maran an experience that he will cherish for the rest of his life.
“I was excited and proud. I was nominated by India coach P. Gopi Chand and the Secretary of Badminton Association of India Punnaiah Choudhary. I strongly feel that I should have got the coach’s job much earlier. I had the credentials. I got the NIS diploma in 2001 and was the deputy State coach from 2001-11, and my wards A. Diya and A. Priya had won the doubles gold in the Sri Lankan Open in 1999-2000. Nevertheless, I am thrilled that got it,” said Maran, for whom this was the first stint with the Indian team.
As he had attended the National camp at Gopi Chand’s Academy, Maran said one would be in awe of former All-England champion P. Gopi Chand for his pure dedication. “I don’t think anybody can match Gopi’s commitment to coaching,” said the former State men’s doubles and mixed doubles champion. “Gopi taught me a lot personally.”
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Five players, three girls and two boys, reached the singles quarterfinals of the Dutch and German Open, said Maran.
Ansal Yadav, a Prakash Padukone Academy trainee in Bengaluru, played an outstanding match against the eventual champion Satiswaran in the last eight clash of the German Open, only to lose a close match in the third game. “I was there as a coach. I cried after the contest for Ansal had three match points and lost all the three in tough long rallies,” said Maran.
At the international level in the junior section, the standards were the same more or less, Maran said. “Our boys are as good as the foreigners, it’s only when they graduate to the senior level they struggle to compete on equal terms. But now things are changing. The juniors have a bright future,” he said.
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Academy issue An AG’s Office employee, Maran now imparts coaching at Shenoy Nagar Academy, but he is unhappy that Tamil Nadu doesn't have an academy of its own; like the one run by Gopi Chand in Hyderabad.
“There are so many talented Tamil Nadu players. We have very good players such as Karan Rajan and Chandramouleeshwar. Yet we don’t have courts to coach them. Each one of them trains independently. I am sure that the TNBA President Anbumani Ramadoss will provide a solution to the vexing problems of State badminton,” said Maran.
The good news is that Gopi Chand has invited Maran again to his academy to attend the National camp in Hyderabad in the first week of June. And Maran is excited, but he has a small dream. A dream he would love to realise during his life-time. “I want to produce National/International champions from my State and I believe that the day will come soon,” he said.
( This is part of a weekly series on the Chennai sports scene )